Any negatives to living in Australia or New Zealand?

[displace]

So, I've never visited either country so I'm quite ignorant. I've heard they are easy places to live and transfer certain careers. I'm curious about the countries in general. Anyone?

Edited April 13, 2017 by displace

[Rosie_0801]

Sure. We have terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days here too.  :laugh:

 

 

Everything is more expensive here.

[Kareni]

Sure. We have terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days here too.  :laugh:

 

Thanks for the chuckle!

 

Everything is more expensive here.

 

On the upside, you do have blue penguins.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[abba12]

 

 

If you can get past that however....

 

Everything is more expensive. It's not just because of exchange rate, they just plain charge us more. Because they can. 

It can get seriously hot. 

We have a lot of crazy weather, the whole drought and flooding rains thing, plus bushfire season. 

If you're republican you probably wont like our political or social security systems much. (a friend of mine cannot get over the fact that we don't actually, directly, vote for our leader. The leader is chosen by the majority party and can be changed mid-term by the party, and has been a few times recently because our parliament has descended into a circus.)

If you intend to homeschool, the regulations are far stricter, with many states having home visits. 

Christmas in summer  :lol:

 

But, honestly, DH and I can't think of anywhere else we would rather be. We grew up hearing that we were very similar to America, but we aren't. The culture here, just how people are and how we live, is unique, and we love it. 

[LMD]

We're a pretty normal place filled with real life people. We have good and bad things...

 

Eta- international shipping. 😢 Just add at least $50 to anything you want to order.

Edited April 13, 2017 by LMD

[Audrey]

I think that the kindness, generosity, and intellect of the AU and NZ representation on this board alone is enough to outweigh any negatives one could cite.

[Rosie_0801]

I think that the kindness, generosity, and intellect of the AU and NZ representation on this board alone is enough to outweigh any negatives one could cite.

 

Well. Big sloppy kisses to you too. :)

 

 

 

 

We like Canadians. Not sure we like anyone else, even the NZer's and we used to like them. Unless your profession is one listed on the Immigration Department website or you are transferring within your current employer's company, you probably won't be allowed here except as a tourist.

[Ausmumof3]

Most people have covered it all. A friend who came from Canada says the couple of worst things for her were - nobody uses driers for the clothes very often. She felt like drying washing was this huge adventure where you never knew whether a bird would poop on your clothes or a spider make its web there. Also she said she misses the fact that at home even though they were rural they were never more than ten minutes from a Maccers.

 

Wa and sa are both losing a lot of jobs at the moment so finding work could be hard.

[Guest]

Does either Au or NZ have Top Ramen??

[rebbyribs]

I've heard that New Zealand feels a bit small.  Of course, I heard it from New Zealanders who came to the U.S. for graduate school, so there's some selection bias there. 

[Guest]

We  have ramen but I don't know what Top Ramen is. A ramen chain ? Ramen you buy at the supermarket ? You can buy ramen noodles at the shops here, and there are lots of places that make ramen where I live.

 

A friend from the West Coast says that our ramen isn't as good though. Which is weird. Because we're pretty much Asian here.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_noodle = Top Ramen.  23 cents a package :)

[Rosie_0801]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_noodle = Top Ramen.  23 cents a package :)

 

If you just mean 2 minute noodles, then yes. We have lots. Probably not for 23c a packet, but I haven't looked recently.

[Guest]

If you just mean 2 minute noodles, then yes. We have lots. Probably not for 23c a packet, but I haven't looked recently.

 

2 minute noodles?  I should time them next time and see how long it takes. 

Cool :)

[eternalsummer]

New Zealand is a lovely country.  The people are kind and friendly and polite (very polite); the environment is gorgeous, generally pretty mild, and free of most dangerous creatures.  It is not too crowded (at least the South Island wasn't too crowded); they do have very stringent immigration policies.  their desire to keep masses of people from moving there is completely understandable but might strike you strangely if you are already opposed to the (comparatively insanely lax) immigration policies in the US.  

 

If you are American, you will be surprised at the race relations.  The Maori in NZ are not like the Native Americans in the US.  The state treats them differently and they have a very different social position and cultural identity.  The same is true of immigrants from Asia - tensions between white residents and Chinese immigrants were strange to see and very different from the way the two groups relate in the US.  Also, people are generally more aware of their European ancestry (and esp. where they came from in Europe). 

 

The food is phenomenal.  

 

There are no squirrels.  When acorns fall from (imported) oak trees in the parks, they all stay on the grass and hurt your feet.  

 

The kids there (the ones I met as a student teacher, anyway) are very very keen to get out of NZ, at least for a while.  There is to some degree less of a sense of tiger-mom-ness, (what sadie said about tall poppies is definitely true in NZ as well); part of it, I think, is just that the place is so small.  If you are the best flute player in NZ, where do you go from there?  You'd have to leave the country to find peers.  Being the best flute player in NZ would not be all that hard - easier than being the best flute player in the state of Missouri, for example.  On the other hand, it makes the world stage a lot closer than it seems it is in the US.

 

People talk more quietly and they wait their turn in conversation.  I was very aware at first of feeling like I was always speaking out of turn.  In the US we speak over each other, or jump in, way more than they do in NZ.  

 

They like Canadians more than Americans and both more than Australians (ime).

 

They are a very new country, historically speaking, and it often feels like it.

 

There are some social taboos that will seem strange, but that is true everywhere.  I made a huge mistake on first arriving by mispronouncing Maori in such a way that it sounded something like Moriori.  Unfortunately the Moriori were a different group of Polynesian people (similar to the Maori?  I am not sure) and I think something unfortunate happened to them at the hands of the Maori at some point, possibly involving cannibalism.  My lack of clarity about it is I suspect due to how absolutely taboo it was to either confuse the two or mention that the Maori were at one point cannibalistic.  It was met with that sort of "I can't believe she said that" laughter.  

 

Also you cannot sit on desks.

 

 

We loved NZ and would love to live there again some day.  It is expensive to get to and from and far away.

 

 

[eternalsummer]

Omg, I forgot about the dryer issue.  That is a massive pita if you are not used to it.

 

Also pedestrians do not have as much of the right of way as they do in the US.

 

 

[eternalsummer]

Kids in public schools wear uniforms.  They also get a whole hour for lunch (which they eat outside and run around freely afterwards) and 20-25 minutes for "morning tea," which is usually a sweet roll of some sort.

 

If you have a class or other thing you're doing at say 3 or 4pm or 10:30 or so in the morning, they will offer tea or coffee and cookies.  In class they had signups for who would bring the tea and cookies that week.

 

[eternalsummer]

Politics are pretty socially liberal but also traditionalist in some ways.  There is not the level of separation of church and state that we have in the US - one school sang a song at the start of every assembly that was religious in nature, although it was a public school.  There is also not as much religious fervor as in the US.

 

They are skinnier than we are, on average.  This can make you feel fatter if you are not also skinny.

 

On the other hand, everyone walks a lot and fast food is expensive, so I lost 15 lb while there.

[eternalsummer]

Yes, I tried the negatives but it was just such a lovely place that it was hard to not include the best bits!

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't live there so it's probably boring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:lol:

[eternalsummer]

Their sense of New Zealand-ness seemed less pronounced than our sense of American-ness.  There was no Revolutionary War.  There was no Civil War to cement that they were on the right side of Right (although they are very consciously part of the West and of the British Empire).  Their flag is a rehash of Australia's, which is not a bad thing but pisses some of them off.  I think patriotism in the US is something we take for granted.  They are patriotic but nothing like what we have here.

[LMD]

If you just mean 2 minute noodles, then yes. We have lots. Probably not for 23c a packet, but I haven't looked recently.

You can bulk buy a box of mi gorengs from asian grocers, it usually works out at about 20c a pack iirc.

[eternalsummer]

their hamburgers are weird

 

they fry the lettuce and the onions and the bun and the tomatoes and an egg, then slop it all together in a little paper sack

 

it has probably 3000 calories

 

they put asparagus (canned) and cranberry sauce on their turkey sandwiches

[eternalsummer]

oh, there's one!  they don't have Mexicans, by and large.  This means there are no taco shops (except for weird fine dining ones) or Mexican grocery chains.  The bonus is that what they have instead is Asians, and I prefer Asian food so that was great.  Lots of Asian grocers.

[eternalsummer]

Oh, and you can't buy monistat over the counter (or at least you couldn't 10 years ago) and drugstores don't have shopping carts.  In fact, they think it is hilarious that American drugstores have shopping carts.

[eternalsummer]

chicken is expensive and lamb is cheap.  If you like lamb this is great; if you like chicken not so much.

[LMD]

I have never had a hamburger like you described anemone. Fry the lettuce?

 

Line drying is also a plus for me, using a dryer always strikes me as incredibly wasteful (we gave away our dryer, never used it)

But, we are definitely more laid back than Americans. We don't care about things like line drying underwear. I often think that I would be a slob by US standards...

 

Eta- asparagus is mostly fresh. We aren't big turkey consumers.

Edited April 13, 2017 by LMD

[eternalsummer]

Well it was the first and last hamburger I had in NZ, so possibly they are not all like that :)  I was not taking any more chances.

 

 

[bookbard]

There are earthquakes in New Zealand.

 

There are bushfires in Australia.

 

In Australia, it is getting noticeably hotter every year, to the point where it's almost unbearable.

 

Cost of curriculum means that even though you want to do Beast Academy, you just can't justify it (shipping and exchange rate). Same with some cool kickstarters.

 

Politics I reckon are as bad as yours. We are killing the great barrier reef and paying coal miners to do it.

 

 

 

[eternalsummer]

Indeed, the house we lived in in NZ is no longer; it was destroyed in the Christchurch earthquake several years ago.  From what I hear the region is still not all the way settled.  I don't know if we would return to Christchurch, although it was a wonderful city.

[eternalsummer]

Oh, the cold!  I completely forgot.

 

It gets coldish - 40 degrees Fahrenheit?  50?  sometimes 30 but not often? in the winter (in Christchurch).  But they don't have the kind of indoor heating we do.  Some places have it, some don't - some have fireplaces (or pellet fires), some have heat pumps, some have electric heaters.  It is not warm all winter.  In the US, at least in the Midwest, it gets very cold but because of that every home pretty much has central heating.  In NZ they just shiver (as far as I can tell) for a few months.  We took a lot of warm baths.

 

We could have maybe afforded space heaters in every room, but *running* them cost an arm and a leg.  Just to run the smallest oil heater we could find at night in one room (where all 3 of us slept) was something like $30/month.  We had a pellet fire and it was a hassle.

[Guest]

New Zealand is a lovely country.  The people are kind and friendly and polite (very polite); the environment is gorgeous, generally pretty mild, and free of most dangerous creatures.  It is not too crowded (at least the South Island wasn't too crowded); they do have very stringent immigration policies.  their desire to keep masses of people from moving there is completely understandable but might strike you strangely if you are already opposed to the (comparatively insanely lax) immigration policies in the US.  

 

If you are American, you will be surprised at the race relations.  The Maori in NZ are not like the Native Americans in the US.  The state treats them differently and they have a very different social position and cultural identity.  The same is true of immigrants from Asia - tensions between white residents and Chinese immigrants were strange to see and very different from the way the two groups relate in the US.  Also, people are generally more aware of their European ancestry (and esp. where they came from in Europe). 

 

The food is phenomenal.  

 

There are no squirrels.  When acorns fall from (imported) oak trees in the parks, they all stay on the grass and hurt your feet.  

 

The kids there (the ones I met as a student teacher, anyway) are very very keen to get out of NZ, at least for a while.  There is to some degree less of a sense of tiger-mom-ness, (what sadie said about tall poppies is definitely true in NZ as well); part of it, I think, is just that the place is so small.  If you are the best flute player in NZ, where do you go from there?  You'd have to leave the country to find peers.  Being the best flute player in NZ would not be all that hard - easier than being the best flute player in the state of Missouri, for example.  On the other hand, it makes the world stage a lot closer than it seems it is in the US.

 

People talk more quietly and they wait their turn in conversation.  I was very aware at first of feeling like I was always speaking out of turn.  In the US we speak over each other, or jump in, way more than they do in NZ.  

 

They like Canadians more than Americans and both more than Australians (ime).

 

They are a very new country, historically speaking, and it often feels like it.

 

There are some social taboos that will seem strange, but that is true everywhere.  I made a huge mistake on first arriving by mispronouncing Maori in such a way that it sounded something like Moriori.  Unfortunately the Moriori were a different group of Polynesian people (similar to the Maori?  I am not sure) and I think something unfortunate happened to them at the hands of the Maori at some point, possibly involving cannibalism.  My lack of clarity about it is I suspect due to how absolutely taboo it was to either confuse the two or mention that the Maori were at one point cannibalistic.  It was met with that sort of "I can't believe she said that" laughter.  

 

Also you cannot sit on desks.

 

 

We loved NZ and would love to live there again some day.  It is expensive to get to and from and far away.

 

I am loving this thread! So interesting. 

 

On the awareness of European identity, I had to chuckle because it made me think of my grad school advisor. He was from New Zealand- apparently a well to do family there. They owned what I was told, was the equivalent of Macy's department store is here. I wish I could remember the name. Apparently his father was unfaithful to his mother and/or divorced her and it was quite the scandal in society or something with the divorce, etc. and made the papers. He told some hilarious stories of how she treated the reporters that showed up at their house. They were a very interesting family. One year she bought him a kitchen for his birthday. An entire kitchen. Who does that?!?

 

Anyway, he was a big deal in the HIV research world and I was thrilled to be his student, and he was such an upper crust kind of guy. I was simply all sorts of enamored (in a non-romantic way- he was extremely gay). However one day, another student and I were talking with him and somehow it came up her family was from Belgium. I can't remember if she said she was Flemish or what, because he was very interested which part of Belgium she was from- whatever she replied, he said, "Ah! The stinky people!" And he was dead serious. Her jaw just sort of dropped. I still remember that moment to this day because it was just such a funny and non-PC thing to say.....it so went against this image I had. Anyway, just a funny memory. He was indeed interested in everyone's heritage. 

 

 

And what's up with the desks? That statement cracked me up. I'm guessing you learned this from experience? :) 

[eternalsummer]

Yes, it turns out the Maori have a (religious? not sure) taboo about sitting on desks, and the non-Maori are very careful (at least in schools, in my experience) to accomodate it.  I'm trying to think of an American equivalent but of course they are hard to think of for your own culture as they are, well, taboos.  I imagine it is vaguely similar to if someone here gave you the finger without intending our meaning behind it - and did it in a semi-professional setting, like at an office meeting or something with your bosses.  Or in some cultures I think it is important to not point your feet towards others while sitting?  Something like that.

 

[Grover]

Their sense of New Zealand-ness seemed less pronounced than our sense of American-ness.  There was no Revolutionary War.  There was no Civil War to cement that they were on the right side of Right (although they are very consciously part of the West and of the British Empire).  Their flag is a rehash of Australia's, which is not a bad thing but pisses some of them off.  I think patriotism in the US is something we take for granted.  They are patriotic but nothing like what we have here.

 

you clearly didn't go to an All Blacks game. 

chicken is expensive and lamb is cheap.  If you like lamb this is great; if you like chicken not so much.

chicken has got cheaper lately :-)

 

NZ is small.  Some people hate that and some like it.  There's a REALLY good chance someone who knows someone who knows you is not too far awy at any given moment. 

 

I have never had fried lettuce in a hamburger.

 

Earthquakes suck.  Christchurch is recovering, but you'll still see half of us tense up at a loud truck.

 

International shipping sucks immensely

 

Tall poppy crushing is a national passtime

 

The "big OE" (overseas experience) is a rite of passage.  Most of us come back though.  Flights are expensive.

 

Whittakers chocolate = big plus

 

Kai moana (sea food) is readily available because you are never more than an hour or so from a beach.

 

Nothing is very far away from anything else.  "Rush hour" is laughable by most other country's standards.

 

Sport's pretty popular here, especially in schools.  Better to be the start full back than the chemistry wiz in most cases.  Learn your rugby teams and you'll be right.

I'm told we're a cultural wasteland by a US immigrant who was NOT staying more than 6 months, and is still here 5 years later.  We grow on you :-)  I think she's a bit rough on us on the arts front.

 

We don't do central heating, or insulation like you might be used to.  Cold?  Stick on another jersey.  I say this as a kiwi sitting in my lounge watching a movie with my family - I have a blanket, so does one child, the other one is in his dressing gown (over clothes) and the husband has jersey and slippers on.  It's not coled enough to light the fire, honest. 

 

Our politics are different to yours. 

As are our views on guns.

 

We don't have snakes.  No snakes.  None.  Not even in the zoo.  No animals in our forests can kill you.  Well, a kakapo might steal your windscreen wipers, causing you to drive off a mountain. 

 

We're a pretty accepting bunch... except when we're not.  I hear both from US friends. 

 

We are small  Very small.  that's good and bad.

[displace]

Sure. We have terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days here too. :laugh:

 

 

Everything is more expensive here.

Wouldn't living there be like a constant vacation? 😆

[Grover]

On the awareness of European identity, I had to chuckle because it made me think of my grad school advisor. He was from New Zealand- apparently a well to do family there. They owned what I was told, was the equivalent of Macy's department store is here. I wish I could remember the name

 

  :)

Ballantyne?

 

Yeah, don't sit on the desk.  Or the pillows. 

[displace]

Thanks for the chuckle!

 

 

On the upside, you do have blue penguins.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Never seen them before. Cute!

[Grover]

we have seals, penguins, kiwi, kakapo (the aforementioned kleptomaniac parrots).  Our wildlife is kind of cool.  And none of it wants you dead.

[displace]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNEeq5qGh8I

 

If you can get past that however....

 

Everything is more expensive. It's not just because of exchange rate, they just plain charge us more. Because they can.

It can get seriously hot.

We have a lot of crazy weather, the whole drought and flooding rains thing, plus bushfire season.

If you're republican you probably wont like our political or social security systems much. (a friend of mine cannot get over the fact that we don't actually, directly, vote for our leader. The leader is chosen by the majority party and can be changed mid-term by the party, and has been a few times recently because our parliament has descended into a circus.)

If you intend to homeschool, the regulations are far stricter, with many states having home visits.

Christmas in summer :lol:

 

But, honestly, DH and I can't think of anywhere else we would rather be. We grew up hearing that we were very similar to America, but we aren't. The culture here, just how people are and how we live, is unique, and we love it.

Funny video:).

 

Bummer about costs. It makes sense if a lot of goods need to be imported, especially from western countries. I'll have to check out the weather as I don't like the heat, but I currently live in the subtropics so I guess I could survive.

 

I'll look into politics. Here it's an electoral college so we don't vote directly. But the people tend to vote for the majority vote at least, not independently.

 

If living in a different country I doubt we'd homeschool as much but good to know ahead of time.

 

I think we should plan a visit :)

[eternalsummer]

I did not go to an All Blacks game. They are serious about sport, and very good internationally at a few sports for what a tiny country it is.  Unfortunately their favorite sports make no sense.

 

Rugby is like football without rules.

 

Cricket is like baseball but all messed up.

 

Netball is like basketball, and only women play it (as far as I could tell), but you don't dribble - you just throw the ball to each other from stationary points until you get it in the net, which is not very high.  It's weird.

 

 

They have a music channel (or used to) that actually plays a lot of music videos during the day.  That was cool.  Some of the homegrown music is very good.  Much is...not.  But that's no different than here.

[displace]

Where to start ? (AU)

 

The droughts, cyclones and flooding rains.

 

High COL in many areas.

 

Highly centralized - good luck finding that small city which can offer you a job AND affordable housing AND access to a larger city when required. Nope, you're likely to be in a big city (we only have two of them, really) mortgaging your children to live in a shed. (Hyperbole alert, but not much).

 

Eating lentils in order to afford electricity ? Did I mention this place is expensive ?

 

A*se end of the earth - flights are cheap to Bali, and that's about it.

 

Entire place is run by big mining and developers and Murdoch.

 

Now, to be fair, there are also a LOT of positive reasons to live here. (Healthcare ? Did anyone mention FREE AT THE POINT OF USE healthcare ?) But you didn't ask about positives, which is why I sound like I hate AU in this post. (Which I don't).

Interesting about living locations.

 

I only asked about negatives because if they aren't bad, it would be fine 😀

[displace]

I'll have to read more later. I was surprised how long the thread was!

[Grover]

 

 

Rugby is like football without rules.

noooo, football has too many rules.. and too much padding.

 

Cricket is like baseball but all messed up.

ok, you've got me there.  Although a sport that stops for the teams to have lunch and dinner together, and serves morning / afternoon tea can't be too bad?

 

Netball is like basketball, and only women play it (as far as I could tell), but you don't dribble - you just throw the ball to each other from stationary points until you get it in the net, which is not very high.  It's weird.

you forgot that in many cases it's played outdoors, in short skirts in WINTER, usually on concrete courts.  No backboard either. 

 

 

[eternalsummer]

I didn't know they played netball outdoors!  I only saw it televised as an indoor game.  

[Rosie_0801]

I did not go to an All Blacks game. They are serious about sport, and very good internationally at a few sports for what a tiny country it is.  Unfortunately their favorite sports make no sense.

 

Rugby is like football without rules.

 

Cricket is like baseball but all messed up.

 

Netball is like basketball, and only women play it (as far as I could tell), but you don't dribble - you just throw the ball to each other from stationary points until you get it in the net, which is not very high.  It's weird.

 

What a foreign point of view!

 

I would have said rugby was like American football but without wearing shoulder pads and cricket a bit like baseball if you squint at it, but they wear proper trousers.

[Grover]

What a foreign point of view!

 

I would have said rugby was like American football but without wearing shoulder pads and cricket a bit like baseball if you squint at it, but they wear proper trousers.

 

like

[Dmmetler]

The 2020 World Congress on Herpetology is in NZ. DD says it's going to be her graduation trip :)

[Rosie_0801]

The 2020 World Congress on Herpetology is in NZ. DD says it's going to be her graduation trip :)

 

My daughter was impressed with her book, btw. :)

[eternalsummer]

Well displace would be a foreigner so I figured it was a valid perspective :)  When I watched rugby it seemed very much like there was not much stoppage of play and much less structure as far as who had the ball, where they lined up, etc.  More like soccer or hockey in terms of play, but with the physicality of football (of course without pads, which just looks insane).

 

They are also pretty into sailing in NZ.  Or yachting, whatever you call it.

 

I saw John Key at an airport and he waved to me.  (well, to DH).

 

You'd never ever see a US President just walking around an airport waving at people with no handlers or whatever.  

[Grover]

The 2020 World Congress on Herpetology is in NZ. DD says it's going to be her graduation trip :)

 

*googles* ohh, in Dunedin.  That's only 6 hours from here... we can meet you!

[Rosie_0801]

Well displace would be a foreigner so I figured it was a valid perspective :)  

 

No, rude comments about sports that you didn't take the time to learn the rules of are not a valid perspective. 

 

Cultural quirks like "don't sit on desks" are.